


desert ghost

by starseen



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Blood, Gen, Guns, it isn't extremely graphic i just want to be careful, quiet-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 07:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19224583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starseen/pseuds/starseen
Summary: She counts where her breaths used to be—one, two—and fires.





	desert ghost

Quiet settles on top of a sandwashed arch. She crouches in the sun, hardly aware of the motions of setting up her rifle. Her eyes are instead on the narrow valley to the west. It’s easy to keep watch—the light will last for a long time yet. And soon enough the demon comes into view, Quiet tightening her grip and preparing for her first shot.

Still as the stone around her, it’s a wonder he spots Quiet at all. She’s in the shade now, sandy breeze stinging her skin and stirring the stork that has been keeping her company into flight. She counts where her breaths used to be—one, two—and fires.

It misses. She knew before it ever left the barrel. He dives behind a crumbling wall, only grazed by the bullet. Quiet frowns and takes off. She leaves dust in her wake, almost floating across the ruins to find a better perch. When she gets there, to the ledge on the cliff, he’s moved position too. She searches for him—

Too slow.

Sound rips through the dry atmosphere. Quiet tries to run but it has already met her, blood covering her side. It begins to heal as she leaps to a ruined tower. So he was going to play it this way, then. That was fine by her.

He’s good at this. Normally she wouldn’t be surprised, but she has a new advantage. Time slows as she lines up another shot, takes it. It barely misses his head. He ducks behind a boulder; Quiet guesses he’s going to try and fix his wounds. But then he resurfaces and counters, and Quiet is on her side, in the red, watching herself die in reverse.

She can see a pool of water just over the edge of the tower. The heat is too much; she can feel blood sticking hair to her face, feel it draining. One shot more and she’d be carrion. But in a moment of sick revelation, Quiet realises this may be a chance to disappear.

He is watching her with his scope, and Quiet picks up her rifle from where it has fallen. She finds him in the crosshairs, laser flashing over him, with hope that he may stand down and leave her without a difficult decision to make.

She thinks about Skull Face. She feels the parasites under her skin.

The demon watches with a narrowed eye as Quiet sets down her rifle; the movement is shaky, unsure. She nudges it off the edge of the tower and hears it bounce painfully over brick and stone. Though bullets do little, they tire her, and Quiet can only hold up her hands placatingly with the energy she has left.

_You got me,_ she says in her mind, before falling into black.

**Author's Note:**

> just something for fun!! thank u for reading ily


End file.
